Very appropriate timing for this post. As companies like Buddy Media continue to develop applications for large brands that want to penetrate the Social Ecosystem it seems like the natural progression to support those applications may be for Buddy to sell off inventory in the app (priced according to the success/popularity of the app). I'm sure Facebook will want to get their hands on that inventory, but for now it seems like the application developers are the gatekeepers. I'm putting my money on these types of companies to be the big winners in the next 6-12 months - also in contention - KickApps, Appssavvy, ClearSpring.
Adam Ostrow
· 7 months ago
yep, I'm guessing the same companies doing well on apps will do well on Pages. Pages also seem like a good opportunity for more traditional agencies too though.
Tyler Willis
· 7 months ago
Chris, We (involver) are powering Us Weekly's new Facebook Page, and as a technology company that is partnering with big brands to power their social solutions, we stress how important it is to remember that to be successful long-term (not in 30-90 day engagements), we have to embrace a much deeper partnership and think more about sponsorship than advertisement.
Facebook has already made it clear that they are happy to promote those who make the ecosystem stronger, and they directly benefit from increasingly engaged users and more time on site // pageviews.
Clearly, this is a big part of the future of publishing and sponsorship -- integrating social network pages/profiles into the sponsorships of the associated site(s). That's something we've been working on developing solutions and clearly defined plans for at Xerces; not just for our own sites & publications, but those of our clients who like the rest of us these days....have extraordinary interest in monetization that works for all.
As others have emphasized -- it's no longer about simple "advertising," we're way beyond that now. It's about long-term, strategic sponsorships that have a depth of engagement with the audience which "advertising" can't begin to duplicate.
KAREN ORTIZ
· 7 months ago
Hey there Tyler Willis, seems to me you must work for State Farm and/or US. Where are these facts coming from?. In my humble opinion, Facebook has long lost ts original purpose which people from around the world could. First of all tne content has changed, but we could first not see this this as the norm. Ads are a portion of our make up. But State Farm and Us will make a mockery of this orignal form of expression. Ads will eventually take over due to the money that the big companies and the gov, just how it always has and always has been. MONEY is always the intent.
Miguel
· 7 months ago
I think that the owner of a famous profile should be in control of the money, after all, like you said, facebook is already placing ads on the sides and they could get some more $$$ from charging famous profiles for "become a fan" ads.
Dana
· 7 months ago
What I like is how you can invite your friends on the left... that should be on their main page.
Authority Networker
· 7 months ago
Today's internet users want personal interactions with those they do business with before they make a buying decision. Social media marketing, which taps into a familiar concept called attraction marketing, lets you build relationships with your targeted audience. You act as an educator as well as a seller while you develop ongoing relationships with clients. Social media sites such as FaceBook are helpful in getting qualified fresh MLM leads and paid signups MLM for your network marketing online business, thus exploding your downline growth.
Facebook User
· 7 months ago
This makes very little sense to me. State Farm is paying to sponsor a facebook Page with less Fans than my grandmother, from an editorial team that has posted content to it once in six months?
Sponsorship of other peoples Pages on Facebook makes very little sense, because , for the most part Public Profiles (or any profiles for that matter) are not destinations. They are control panels, for the owner to a) recruit fans and then b) publish content out into those Fan's feeds. So any 'sponsorship" then would have to take place in every status line, published link and posted photo.
State Farm have nearly as many fans of their own page as does US. Wouldn't they be much better off investing their money in creating content and growing their own community of Fans, rather than trying to buy someone elses? it's the old argument of earned media increasingly replacing paid media.
Tyler Willis
· 7 months ago
Great questions, hope i can answer them.
Us Weekly is adding these engaging functions specifically to turn their page into a destination. Their photos, videos, polls (you'd be shocked at how many people take their daily polls), etc. are all important parts of this, if you look at their new Facebook page, you'll see it's much more compelling of a destination.
I think sponsors see value in associating themselves with the popular brand -- a value that will grow as the audience grows, but in this case it's important to remember that this is a report of the *launch* of this strategy, not the completion of it. Us Weekly is the first brand to attempt this strategy.
Also, on earned media vs. paid media, I wrote a piece for MediaPost two weeks ago on using a unification strategy, I think it might be interesting to you: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Artic...
Ally
· 7 months ago
So facebook is allowing page owners to sell advertisments and sponsorships on their free service? Is Facebook getting a cut of this? They just missed a huge potential revenue source.
Tyler Willis
· 7 months ago
I can't reveal specifics about the deal, but Facebook is indirectly benefiting from increased pageviews and a more engaged user base. Facebook is focused on securing their place as the global social network, having content providers engage users on their site is beneficial to this goal.
chris
· 7 months ago
I would like to know how this actually works? For example, lets say XYZ company contacts me and says " we'd like to advertise on your FB page" How does this actually get integrated into the page, who needs to be involved etc...
It's awesome and important to note that Involver is powering the Us Fan Page. It's their technology that is allowing Us to create a compelling Fan Page that makes it easy for fans to share content and to create an appealing environment for sponsors.
termeh
· 7 months ago
Wow. Interesting....I'm definitely interested in knowing who is benefiting from the ads, and who controls them..
Hesham
· 7 months ago
This is Amazing idea!
I am not sure of who will control the ads, but I hope -at least- it will be a share! nice hunt Adam!
Jackie
· 7 months ago
I am surprised a huge tabloid like that only has 3K fans!?
onlinedesign
· 7 months ago
I agree with Chris Dessi - "Monetize the Apps" as fast as you can seems to be the new wave of the future. The "tabloids" will have a much larger Fan Base when peeps like Oprah or American Idol start showing up (my offense to State Farm) as sponsors. What I worry about is how this newest phase of "occupy the territory" is going to affect social media. Social Media is supposed to be for "building better relationships" not just slapping on slogans and logos.
Tyler Willis
· 7 months ago
Us Weekly is providing substantive content to their fans, AND allowing them to create a community around it like never before by bringing it to the place where people's friends are. I don't see how that's slapping on slogans or logos and not building better relationships.
As for the growth of the page, a main point of this platform is to create a more engaging and viral fan page -- now that they see the potential upside, Us is dynamically engaging their audience to grow it rapidly.
onlinedesign
· 7 months ago
Tyler, I agree with you. too. My concern is that us Facebook users are already suffering from “Facebook Application Fatigue” - the Apps were not originally created to be monetized. FB was created as a social media outlet for communication, not as a major advertising outlet or search portal. We are watching a FB evolution.
The fact of the matter is, Facebook is not user-service interaction, like how Google is, but it’s all user-user interaction with the service acting as a communication link. When a user lists his or her music or film preferences on Facebook, it is for the express purpose of communication those interests to his or her peers, not so random people on the Internet can look them up and say “Oh hey, I like State Farm, too!”
There is a great article from 2 years addressing these very concerns at: http://www.marketing-ninja.com August 12th, 2007
I was simply agreeing with Chris about the monetization of FB Apps being a significant wave of the future - big $$$. (Even so, don't you just get a little bit sick of seeing a large corporate symbol stuck on everything you do, see, or read? Just sayin...)
ss
· 7 months ago
well online design, forgive me but what is wrong with corporate symbols? ;) your bag has one, your sunglasses has one, am I wrong? what if they sponsored a charity page on facebook? Would you react the same way? Come on.
onlinedesign
· 7 months ago
Reply to SS: There is nothing wrong with corporate symbols. In fact, some of them actually inspire us to do better in life. If they sponsored a charity page on a Facebook page, that would be super! I would like to see everyone active in social media adopt the "Twitter Twollars" approach and use social media to encourage corporate responsibility. That's all.
This was a super great comment thread and I thank you for the engaging conversation.
[Right now in South Carolina, I have dear friends that have been evacuated from the still raging fires in Myrtle Beach, so I will not be re-joining this thread right now. I will be Devil's Advocate another time].
socialnerdia
· 7 months ago
Facebook is going to connect us to everything --> http://bit.ly/fbconnected. Our status feeds will one day be full of daily trivial things like electrical consumption and favorite scene of a movie on tv. And advertising will support it.
Randy
· 7 months ago
It will morph from not just sponsorships, but videos and parties in the real world with communities based on shared interests and geography.
When the next oil crash hits, at least capitalism will still be trying to sell stuff through the latest buzz channel of the conscious consuming swarm of human attention. I would also keep an eye out for Bright Neighbor meets Aardvark - that's next.
All Comments
We (involver) are powering Us Weekly's new Facebook Page, and as a technology company that is partnering with big brands to power their social solutions, we stress how important it is to remember that to be successful long-term (not in 30-90 day engagements), we have to embrace a much deeper partnership and think more about sponsorship than advertisement.
Facebook has already made it clear that they are happy to promote those who make the ecosystem stronger, and they directly benefit from increasingly engaged users and more time on site // pageviews.
Tyler Willis, tyler@involver.com
As others have emphasized -- it's no longer about simple "advertising," we're way beyond that now. It's about long-term, strategic sponsorships that have a depth of engagement with the audience which "advertising" can't begin to duplicate.
Sponsorship of other peoples Pages on Facebook makes very little sense, because , for the most part Public Profiles (or any profiles for that matter) are not destinations. They are control panels, for the owner to a) recruit fans and then b) publish content out into those Fan's feeds. So any 'sponsorship" then would have to take place in every status line, published link and posted photo.
State Farm have nearly as many fans of their own page as does US. Wouldn't they be much better off investing their money in creating content and growing their own community of Fans, rather than trying to buy someone elses? it's the old argument of earned media increasingly replacing paid media.
Us Weekly is adding these engaging functions specifically to turn their page into a destination. Their photos, videos, polls (you'd be shocked at how many people take their daily polls), etc. are all important parts of this, if you look at their new Facebook page, you'll see it's much more compelling of a destination.
I think sponsors see value in associating themselves with the popular brand -- a value that will grow as the audience grows, but in this case it's important to remember that this is a report of the *launch* of this strategy, not the completion of it. Us Weekly is the first brand to attempt this strategy.
Also, on earned media vs. paid media, I wrote a piece for MediaPost two weeks ago on using a unification strategy, I think it might be interesting to you: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Artic...
I am not sure of who will control the ads, but I hope -at least- it will be a share!
nice hunt Adam!
As for the growth of the page, a main point of this platform is to create a more engaging and viral fan page -- now that they see the potential upside, Us is dynamically engaging their audience to grow it rapidly.
The fact of the matter is, Facebook is not user-service interaction, like how Google is, but it’s all user-user interaction with the service acting as a communication link. When a user lists his or her music or film preferences on Facebook, it is for the express purpose of communication those interests to his or her peers, not so random people on the Internet can look them up and say “Oh hey, I like State Farm, too!”
There is a great article from 2 years addressing these very concerns at:
http://www.marketing-ninja.com August 12th, 2007
I was simply agreeing with Chris about the monetization of FB Apps being a significant wave of the future - big $$$. (Even so, don't you just get a little bit sick of seeing a large corporate symbol stuck on everything you do, see, or read? Just sayin...)
This was a super great comment thread and I thank you for the engaging conversation.
[Right now in South Carolina, I have dear friends that have been evacuated from the still raging fires in Myrtle Beach, so I will not be re-joining this thread right now. I will be Devil's Advocate another time].
When the next oil crash hits, at least capitalism will still be trying to sell stuff through the latest buzz channel of the conscious consuming swarm of human attention. I would also keep an eye out for Bright Neighbor meets Aardvark - that's next.